Welcome to Salem United Church of Christ

Welcome to Salem UCC in Verona
Our in-church Worship is temporarily suspended, so we will continue to prepare and share our most recent and upcoming services with you!

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SALEM WEEKLY NEWS

For May 29, 2020

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PENTECOST SUNDAY

May 31st is Pentecost this year, the festival celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit to empower the church. The topic for the day is “The Kind of Church Needed Today,” and the outline of the sermon follows Acts 2:42 closely. That verse says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” [See the important note just below.]

UNREST IN MINNESOTA and ELSEWHERE

It has been working extremely well for us to record our online services on Wednesday evenings. One drawback of recording on Wednesday for viewing on Sunday is that there is then no opportunity for adjustments, allowing the service to take into consideration later developments in current events.

Were I preaching under normal circumstances this weekend, I would have rewritten Sunday’s sermon on Saturday to take into consideration the death of George Floyd and the subsequent tension in the nation.

I would have kept the same topic and text, but the sermon’s introduction would have situated the topic and text in the context of this week’s tense developments out of Minnesota, which have spread across the nation.

So please listen to this Sunday’s sermon with these thoughts in mind. Format the question to be, “What kind of church needs to be called into being this Pentecost in this nation so filled with this racial tension?” The text, Acts 2:42, would carry me to answer

·        A church that learns from scripture – this is our one beginning point because it gives us something to bring to the conversation that the world isn’t already saying to itself;

·        A church that loves – a church that is not marked by love cannot hope to bring healing to a bitterly divided nation;

·        A church that is open to mystery – we cannot map where God is on a coordinate plane, but we can be open to the possibility of the holy in the mundane;

·        A church that prays – prayer works to put us in the presence of God

SAME CHURCH, DIFFERENT PEW

Those who view Salem’s online worship service for May 31 will see a changed view. Ben Borgerding, a student at UW-Milwaukee studying film and video production, and a grandson of Harlan and Gerri Hall, is lending us a hand in producing our videos. He will be doing much of our recording in the short term. In the long term he will be able to guide our video volunteers in the use of editing techniques and technologies. Since so much is different these days, this seemed like a good time to take Ben up on his offer and to experiment with something new. Adjustments may be made as the weeks move along. Stay tuned, as they say!

GRADUATE RECOGNITION . . . June 7, 11 A.M.

We will publicly recognize and honor Salem’s five high school graduates from the Class of 2020 on June 7. The plan is for a car parade before our graduates, who will be stationed, with their families, at appropriate distances apart, around our church’s parking lot. To make this as full and festive as can be WE WANT AS MANY CARS PARTICIPATING AS POSSIBLE. Cars can be decorated with signs, streamers, balloons, what-have-you. We will surround our graduates with love and praise by circling time and again around the parking lot. We will begin forming our “parade” at 10:45 A.M. on June 7.

GRADUATION CARDS

It  would be nice if we could shower our graduates with cards. You can mail your cards to the church. We will save them and present them to the grads. This can help make their otherwise “lost” opportunity a day of powerful memories and felt love.

Our five graduates are Drew Adams, Henry Butzlaff, Morgan Moll, Jared Price, and Anika Quade.

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Our Community

Whether you are looking to renew your relationship with God or just find friends to support you through good times and bad, Salem offers regular services, fellowship, outreach, community service, potluck programs, and musical groups to keep you coming back.